Has anyone presented a mare for inspection that was not sound.....

[Tippy]

due to a freak accident? How did your inspectors handle it? Did you medicate or do something to help them be sound? Are there any groups that would not tolerate unsoundness of any sort? I was going to do GOV, but I can’t get a response from the office.

I have not tried to medicate this mare to see if she will be sound on something. She would still have the blemish/fill from the injury, but maybe that could be overlooked with a vet note? I would love to inspect her and make her a useful broodmare, but if we can’t be evaluated because of the unsoundness then I’m not going to bother.

[JWB]

From my understanding, the lameness will be a penalty but many unsound mares have passed inspections. Some will be more difficult than others (hard to get the minimum required suspension score for AHA with a lame horse) but you’ll be able to find some place to approve her if she’s an otherwise nice horse.

[DownYonder]

We sometimes see unsound mares at our OHBS/GOV inspections. Oftentimes, the owner brings a vet statement that the mare was injured, and the inspectors understand that horses do get hurt, so they will take that into consideration. They can only judge what they can see, though, and if the mare is three legged lame, you can’t expect stellar scores for impulsion & elasticity, and correctness of gaits and general impression may also be affected. Depending on her other scores for conformation, type, etc., she may end up in the mare book instead of the main mare book, but she will at least be in the books, and her fillies by approved stallions would be eligible to move up one book. (And I am thinking in particular of a OTTB mare some years back that had broken her pelvis in a gate accident - she had the weirdest stilted gait at trot, and was placed in the mare book because of it and because she had very little elasticity, but she had a really lovely filly at her side.

[DennisM]

This just happened to someone at a recent American Hanoverian Society inspection. The inspectors wanted a vet certificate to know what they were seeing/evaluating, otherwise they’re compelled to judge just what they can observe.

[Bent_Hickory]

I would find out if the mare was sound with a gram of bute and then find out if you could present her under those conditions.

[back_in_the_saddle]

What about older mares who have foundered?

I’ll be taking my Elite Rubinstein mare for GOV approval. Will they take her Hanoverian inspection scores into account from when she was a three year old?

[freshman]

[QUOTE=Bent Hickory;7122315]
I would find out if the mare was sound with a gram of bute and then find out if you could present her under those conditions.[/QUOTE]

As long as the inspection regulations allow it, I agree, give the mare 1-2 grams of bute and see if this helps her lameness. Since you’ve never given her a bute trial, I assume she doesn’t have some sort of known sensitivity to it that would make this a bad idea. Try it at home first to see if this helps, obviously, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use it at the inspection, as long as it is legal. It could make a real difference.

[Blume_Farm]

I had a lovely Tb mare with an unsoundness due to an old injury. It was very obvious as she had this horrible circumferential scar running around her cannon bone (high tensile fencing injury). It also was an injury that bute did not help as it was old scar tissue not necessarily pain related. She scored very high on conformation at her AHS inspection but they did not pass her as her walk/trot was hindered and they require at least a 7 for Tb mares. THe following year I presented her to GOV/ Weser-ems as I was hoping on using her to breed to a pony stallion, and they approved her based on her high conformation scores and took her injury into consideration for her inability to walk soundly. Sadly, not long after she died due to what we suspect was lymphatic damage and ensuing infection/ inflammation in that same limb. Bummer too as she had fantastic Tb sport horse lines (Northern Dancer, Secretariat, Tudor Minstral, Round Table)

So yes they can really only judge/ approve what they have in front of them that day. Just posting to tell you my experience between the two registries and how they might deal with a lameness.

[stoicfish]

Yes and she got marked down for it. I had told them ahead of time and that might have helped a bit in their assessment but in the end they have to judge what is in front of them. Makes sense as you could have a naturally great moving mare that cannot move well because of an injury or an average moving mare that cannot move well due to an injury.
Actually, what I have seen help the most is an amazing (moving) foal by side. The scores are still reduced but it helps the judges to see the potential.

[sid]

Yes, many years ago I had to present an aged mare (age 21) that I had leased to have her Boleem filly presented to the GOV. This mare had a permanent injury and was fairly lame on her RF.

She had already been approved KWPN (Ster) and the AHS, which they saw stamped on her papers, and had a spectactular show record.

They were very kind about not having me run her around with a bum leg. She was accepted into he MMB. I suspect her pedigree and the fact she was in 2 other registeries and had a great show record may have had a lot to do with it.

[RanchoAdobe]

I presented a fabulous, well-bred mare with a severe Sporthorse injury to AHHA. I had a veterinary note from a well-respected vet explaining her injury and stating it was unrelated to conformation. I did wait to present her with a top filly to make sure that they would want her in the book and I did give her Banamine. I also submitted her FEI results. She was accepted into the premium mare book and her filly was a foal futurity winner. I would wait to present with foal by side and get a vet note

[rcloisonne]

[QUOTE=back in the saddle;7122346]
What about older mares who have foundered? [/QUOTE]
Approved or not, it would be very dangerous to breed a mare like this, IME. The hormonal changes of pregnancy and lactation can cause the mare to founder again.

[clint]

[QUOTE=back in the saddle;7122346]
What about older mares who have foundered?

I’ll be taking my Elite Rubinstein mare for GOV approval. Will they take her Hanoverian inspection scores into account from when she was a three year old?[/QUOTE]

I just presented an EMC Hanoverian mare to GOV. She had an injury requiring surgery a couple of years ago, and I was told to bring her veterinary reports, which I did. She wasn’t lame, but has clearly been out of work for a couple of years and her scores weren’t nearly as good as when she was inspected and tested in Germany as a three y.o. I was told GOV doesn’t consider the Hanoverian scores, nor did they look at her veterinary information. She is in the main stud book for GOV, so I suppose all is okay. However, I was a little surprised that since I was told to bring that information, it wasn’t considered.

[Kyzteke]

Can’t speak for GOV, but I have presented or seen presented mares to AHS, RPSI and ISR/OldNA whose gaits were obviously affected because of an injury or whatever.

In all of these cases the mares were presented with a foal at foot; and I never saw it make a difference to the inspectors.

Maybe others will have a different experience…

[back_in_the_saddle]

[QUOTE=back in the saddle;7122346]
What about older mares who have foundered? [/QUOTE]

@rcloisonne;7123200

Approved or not, it would be very dangerous to breed a mare like this, IME. *The hormonal changes of pregnancy and lactation can cause the mare to founder again.

And exactly why I do not breed her to carry any more. She became an ET only mare after the founder. This summer I sent her to a top equine reproduction facility where several embryos were vitrified for future use. Next year we plan to do regular ET and more vitrification.

I’m not concerned about her scores, (provided she’s approved into “a” book.) *The reality is, she will not score as well as she did as a three year old. And that’s ok provided she does good enough. She’s 17, foundered due to salmonella, and hasn’t been in work in over 4 years so isn’t exactly fit, etc… I just want her approved so I can use some GOV approved stallions that aren’t AHS approved.

[ise]

We’ve had mares presented at the OldNA inspections we host. We do tell them have something from a Vet regarding the fact that the issue is either age or injury related and not congenital. Giving mares some pain killer is allowed.

[Vic_007]

I am in a similiar situation. I own a gorgeous ottb, very large, 17hh and has a great heart girth and modern dressage look to her. She would have “been” something if it weren’t for her injury. She is not really lame, but I don’t think her movement is 100% true because of the injury, and she cannot be jumped. I have ridden her fine on the flat though.

In this situation would it be better to have a foal at their side as “proof”?

[afterhhours]

Ive presented a mare that had a field injury years ago so is slightly off… could not give her bute… she scored low on her trot and the judge noted the issue in her front leg. Other than that she received high scores so still passed with a good score.
Maybe consider blocking the nerve temporarily if it won’t do any damage? Effective if you don’t want to give bute if the mare is pregnant.